II. The work of the means of social
communications
A. Media at the service of persons and cultures
B. Media at the service of dialogue with the world
C. Media at the service of human community and progress
D. Media at the service of ecclesial communion
E. Media at the service of a new evangelization

III. Current challenges
A. The need for a critical evaluation
B. Solidarity and integral development
C. Policies and structures
D. Defense of the right to information and communications

IV. Pastoral priorities and responses
A. Defense of human cultures
B. Development and promotion of the Church's own media of social
C. The formation of Christian communicators
D. Pastoral care of communications personnel

1. At the dawn of a new era, a vast expansion of human communications
is profoundly influencing culture everywhere. Revolutionary
technological changes are only part of what is happening. Nowhere today
are people untouched by the impact of media upon religious and moral
attitudes, political and social systems, and education.

It is impossible to ignore, for instance, that geographical and
political boundaries were both of very little avail in view of the role
played by communications during the "radical transformations"
of 1989 and 1990, on whose historical significance the Pope reflects in Centesimus
Annus."1

It becomes equally evident that the first "Areopagus of the
modern age is the world of communications which is unifying humanity and
turning it into what is known as a `global village.' The means of social
communications have become so important as to be for many the chief
means of information and education, of guidance and inspiration in their
behavior as individuals, families and within society at large."2

More than a quarter century after the promulgation of the Second
Vatican Council's decree on social communications, Inter Mirifica,
and two decades after the pastoral instruction Communio et Progressio,
the Pontifical Council for Social Communications wishes to reflect on
the pastoral implications of this situation.

We do so in the spirit expressed by the closing words of Communio
et Progressio: "The people of God walk in history. As
they...advance with their times, they look forward with confidence and
even with enthusiasm to whatever the development of communications in a
space age may have to offer."3

Taking for granted the continued validity of the principles and
insights of these conciliar and post-conciliar documents, we wish to
apply them to new and emerging realities. We do not pretend to say the
final word on a complex, fluid, rapidly changing situation, but simply
wish to provide a working tool and a measure of encouragement to those
confronting the pastoral implications of the new realities.

2. In the years since Inter Mirifica and Communio et
Progressio appeared, people have grown accustomed to expressions
like information society, mass-media culture and media generation. Terms
like these underline a remarkable fact: Today, much that men and women
know and think about life is conditioned by the media; to a considerable
extent, human experience itself is an experience of media.

Recent decades also have witnessed remarkable developments in the
technology of communicating. These include both the rapid evolution of
previously existing technologies and the emergence of new
telecommunications and media technologies: satellites, cable television,
fiber optics, videocassettes, compact disks, computerized image making
and other computer and digital technology, and much else. The use of new
media gives rise to what some speak of as "new languages" and
has given birth to new possibilities for the mission of the Church as
well as to new pastoral problems.

3. Against this background we encourage the pastors and people of the
Church to deepen their understanding of issues relating to
communications and media, and to translate their understanding into
practical policies and workable programs. "As the council fathers
looked to the future and tried to discern the context in which the
Church would be called upon to carry out her mission, they could clearly
see that the progress of technology was already `transforming the face
of the earth' and even reaching out to conquer space. They recognized
that developments in communications technology, in particular, were
likely to set off chain reactions with unforeseen consequences."4

"Far from suggesting that the Church should stand aloof or try
to isolate herself from the mainstream of these events, the council
fathers saw the Church as being in the very midst of human progress,
sharing the experiences of the rest of humanity, seeking to understand
them and to interpret them in the light of faith. It was for God's
faithful people to make creative use of the new discoveries and
technologies for the benefit of humanity and the fulfillment of God's
plan for the world...employing the full potential of the 'computer age'
to serve the human and transcendent vocation of every person, and thus
to give glory to the Father from whom all good things come."5

We express our gratitude to those responsible for the creative
communications work under way in the Church everywhere. Despite
difficulties-arising from limited resources, from the obstacles
sometimes placed in the way of the Church's access to media and from a
constant reshaping of culture, values and attitudes brought about by the
pervasive presence of media-much has been and continues to be
accomplished. The dedicated bishops, clergy, religious and lay people
engaged in this critically important apostolate deserve the thanks of
all.

Also welcome are those positive ventures in media-related ecumenical
cooperation involving Catholics and their brothers and sisters of other
churches and ecclesial communities, as well as interreligious
cooperation with those of other world religions. It is not only
appropriate but "necessary for Christians to work together more
effectively in their communications efforts and to act in more direct
cooperation with other religions to ensure a united religious presence
in the very heart of mass communications."6

I. The context of social communications

A. Cultural and Social Context

4. As more than just a technological revolution, today's revolution
in social communications involves a fundamental reshaping of the
elements by which people comprehend the world about them and verify and
express what they comprehend. The constant availability of images and
ideas, and their rapid transmission even from continent to continent,
have profound consequences, both positive and negative, for the
psychological, moral and social development of persons, the structure
and functioning of societies, intercultural communications, and the
perception and transmission of values, worldviews, ideologies and
religious beliefs. The communications revolution affects perceptions
even of the Church and has a significant impact on the Church's own
structures and modes of functioning.

All this has striking pastoral implications. The media can be used to
proclaim the Gospel or to reduce it to silence in human hearts. As media
become ever more intertwined with people's daily lives, they influence
how people understand the meaning of life itself.

Indeed the power of media extends to defining not only what people
will think but even what they will think about. Reality, for many, is
what the media recognize as real; what media do not acknowledge seems of
little importance. Thus de facto silence can be imposed upon individuals
and groups whom the media ignore, and even the voice of the Gospel can
be muted, though not entirely stilled, in this way.

It is important therefore that Christians find ways to furnish the
missing information to those deprived of it and also to give a voice to
the voiceless.

The power of media either to reinforce or override the traditional
reference points of religion, culture and family underlines the
continued relevance of the council's words: "If the media are to be
correctly employed, it is essential that all who use them know the
principles of the moral order and apply them faithfully in this
domain."7

B. Political and Economic Context

5. The economic structures of nations are inextricably linked to
contemporary communications systems. National investment in an efficient
communications infrastructure is widely regarded as necessary to
economic and political development, and the growing cost of such
investment has been a major factor leading governments in a number of
countries to adopt policies aimed at increasing market competition. For
this and other reasons, public telecommunications and broadcasting
systems in many instances have been subject to policies of deregulation
and privatization.

While public systems can clearly be misused for purposes of
ideological and political manipulation, unregulated commercialization
and privatization in broadcasting can also have far-reaching
consequences. In practice, and often as a matter of public policy,
public accountability for the use of the airwaves is devalued. Profit,
not service, tends to become the most important measure of success.
Profit motives and advertisers' interests exert undue influence on media
content: Popularity is preferred over quality, and the lowest common
denominator prevails. Advertisers move beyond their legitimate role of
identifying genuine needs and responding to them, and, driven by profit
motives, strive to create artificial needs and patterns of consumption.

Commercial pressures also operate across national boundaries at the
expense of particular peoples and their cultures. Faced with increasing
competition and the need to develop new markets, communications firms
become ever more "multinational" in character; at the same
time, lack of local production capabilities makes some countries
increasingly dependent on foreign material. Thus, the products of the
popular media of one culture spread into another, often to the detriment
of established art forms and media and the values which they embody.

Even so, the solution to problems arising from unregulated
commercialization and privatization does not lie in state control of
media but in more regulation according to criteria of public service and
in greater public accountability. It should be noted in this connection
that, although the legal and political frameworks within which media
operate in some countries are currently changing strikingly for the
better, elsewhere government intervention remains an instrument of
oppression and exclusion.

II. The work of the means of social communications

6. Communio et Progressio is rooted in a vision of
communication as a way toward communion. For "more than the
expression of ideas and the indication of emotion," it declares,
communication is "the giving of self in love."8 In
this respect, communication mirrors the Church's own communion and is
capable of contributing to it.

Indeed, the communication of truth can have a redemptive power, which
comes from the person of Christ. He is God's Word made flesh and the
image of the invisible God. In and through him God's own life is
communicated to humanity by the Spirit's action. "Since the
creation of the world, invisible realities, God's eternal power and
divinity have become visible, recognized through the things he has
made";9 and now "the Word has become flesh and made
his dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory: the glory of an only
Son coming from the Father, filled with enduring love."10
Here, in the Word made flesh, God's self-communication is definitive. In
Jesus' words and deeds the Word is liberating, redemptive, for all
humankind. This loving self-revelation of God, combined with humanity's
response of faith, constitutes a profound dialogue.

Human history and all human relationships exist within the framework
established by this self-communication of God in Christ. History itself
is ordered toward becoming a kind of word of God, and it is part of the
human vocation to contribute to bringing this about by living out the
ongoing, unlimited communication of God's reconciling love in creative
new ways. We are to do this through words of hope and deeds of love,
that is, through our very way of life. Thus, communication must lie at
the heart of the Church community.

Christ is both the content and the dynamic source of the Church's
communications in proclaiming the Gospel. For the Church itself is
"Christ's mystical body—the hidden completion of Christ glorified—who
`fills the whole creation.'"11 As a result we move,
within the Church and with the help of the word and the sacraments,
toward the hope of that last unity where "God will be all in
all."12

A. Media at the Service of Persons and Cultures

7. For all the good which they do and are capable of doing, mass
media, "which can be such effective instruments of unity and
understanding, can also sometimes be the vehicles of a deformed outlook
on life, on the family, on religion and on morality—an outlook that
does not respect the true dignity and destiny of the human person."13
It is imperative that media respect and contribute to that integral
development of the person which embraces "the cultural,
transcendent and religious dimensions of man and society."14

One also finds the source of certain individual and social problems
in the replacement of human interaction by increased media use and
intense attachment to fictitious media characters. Media, after all,
cannot take the place of immediate personal contact and interaction
among family members and friends. But the solution to this difficulty
also may lie largely in the media: through their use in ways—dialogue
groups, discussions of films and broadcasts—which stimulate
interpersonal communication rather than substituting for it.

B. Media at the Service of Dialogue with the World

8. The Second Vatican Council underlined the awareness of the people
of God that they are "truly and intimately linked with mankind and
its history."15 Those who proclaim God's word are
obligated to heed and seek to understand the "words" of
diverse peoples and cultures in order not only to learn from them but to
help them recognize and accept the Word of God.16 The Church
therefore must maintain an active, listening presence in relation to the
world—a kind of presence which both nurtures community and supports
people in seeking acceptable solutions to personal and social problems.

Moreover, as the Church always must communicate its message in a
manner suited to each age and to the cultures of particular nations and
peoples, so today it must communicate in and to the emerging media
culture.17 This is a basic condition for responding to a
crucial point made by the Second Vatican Council: The emergence of
"social, technical and cultural bonds" linking people ever
more closely lends "special urgency" to the Church's task of
bringing all to "full union with Christ."18
Considering how important a contribution the media of social
communications can make to its efforts to foster this unity, the Church
views them as means "devised under God's providence" for the
promotion of communication and communion among human beings during their
earthly pilgrimage.19

Thus, in seeking to enter into dialogue with the modern world, the
Church necessarily desires honest and respectful dialogue with those
responsible for the communications media. On the Church's side this
dialogue involves efforts to understand the media—their purposes,
procedures, forms and genres, internal structures and modalities—and
to offer support and encouragement to those involved in media work. On
the basis of this sympathetic understanding and support, it becomes
possible to offer meaningful proposals for removing obstacles to human
progress and the proclamation of the Gospel.

Such dialogue therefore requires that the Church be actively
concerned with the secular media and especially with the shaping of
media policy. Christians have in effect a responsibility to make their
voice heard in all the media, and their task is not confined merely to
the giving out of Church news. The dialogue also involves support for
media artists; it requires the development of an anthropology and a
theology of communication—not least so that theology itself may be
more communicative, more successful in disclosing Gospel values and
applying them to the contemporary realities of the human condition; it
requires that Church leaders and pastoral workers respond willingly and
prudently to media when requested, while seeking to establish
relationships of mutual confidence and respect, based on fundamental
common values, with those who are not of our faith.

C. Media at the Service of Human Community and Progress

9. Communications in and by the Church is essentially communication
of the Good News of Jesus Christ. It is the proclamation of the Gospel
as a prophetic, liberating word to the men and women of our times; it is
testimony, in the face of radical secularization, to divine truth and to
the transcendent destiny of the human person; it is the witness given in
solidarity with all believers against conflict and division, to justice
and communion among peoples, nations and cultures.

This understanding of communication on the part of the Church sheds a
unique light on social communications and on the role which, in the
providential plan of God, the media are intended to play in promoting
the integral development of human persons and societies.

D. Media at the Service of Ecclesial Communion

10. Along with all this, it is necessary constantly to recall the
importance of the fundamental right of dialogue and information within
the Church, as described in Communio et Progressio,20
and to continue to seek effective means, including a responsible use of
media of social communications, for realizing and protecting this right.
In this connection we also have in mind the affirmations of the Code of
Canon Law that, besides showing obedience to the pastors of the Church,
the faithful "are at liberty to make known their needs, especially
their spiritual needs, and their wishes" to these pastors,21
and that the faithful, in keeping with their knowledge, competence and
position, have "the right, indeed at times the duty," to
express to the pastors their views on matters concerning the good of the
Church.22

Partly this is a matter of maintaining and enhancing the Church's
credibility and effectiveness. But more fundamentally, it is one of the
ways of realizing in a concrete manner the Church's character as communio,
rooted in and mirroring the intimate communion of the Trinity. Among the
members of the community of persons who make up the Church, there is a
radical equality in dignity and mission which arises from baptism and
underlies hierarchical structure and diversity of office and function;
and this equality necessarily will express itself in an honest and
respectful sharing of information and opinions.

It will be well to bear in mind, however, in cases of dissent, that
"it is not by seeking to exert the pressure of public opinion that
one contributes to the clarification of doctrinal issues and renders
service to the truth."23 In fact, "not all ideas
which circulate among the people of God" are to be "simply and
purely identified with the 'sense of the faith.'"24

Why does the Church insist that people have the right to receive
correct information? Why does the Church emphasize its right to proclaim
authentic Gospel truth? Why does the Church stress the responsibility of
its pastors to communicate the truth and to form the faithful to do the
same? It is because the whole understanding of what communication in the
Church means is based upon the realization that the Word of God
communicates himself.

E. Media at the Service of a New Evangelization

11. Along with traditional means such as witness of life, catechetics,
personal contact, popular piety, the liturgy and similar celebrations,
the use of media is now essential in evangelization and catechesis.
Indeed, "the Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she did
not utilize these powerful means that human skill is daily rendering
more perfect."25 The media of social communications can
and should be instruments in the Church's program of re-evangelization
and new evangelization in the contemporary world. In view of the proven
efficacy of the old principle "see, judge, act," the
audiovisual aspect of media in evangelization should be given due
attention.

But it will also be of great importance in the Church's approach to
media and the culture they do so much to shape always to bear in mind
that: "It is not enough to use the media simply to spread the
Christian message and the Church's authentic teaching. It is also
necessary to integrate that message into the 'new culture' created by
modern communications...with new languages, new techniques and a new
psychology."26 Today's evangelization ought to well up
from the Church's active, sympathetic presence within the world of
communications.

III. Current challenges

A. Need for a Critical Evaluation

12. But even as the Church takes a positive, sympathetic approach to
media, seeking to enter into the culture created by modern
communications in order to evangelize effectively, it is necessary at
the very same time that the Church offer a critical evaluation of mass
media and their impact upon culture.

As we have said repeatedly, communications technology is a marvelous
expression of human genius, and the media confer innumerable benefits
upon society. But as we have also pointed out, the application of
communications technology has been a mixed blessing, and its use for
good purposes requires sound values and wise choices on the part of
individuals, the private sector, governments and society as a whole. The
Church does not presume to dictate these decisions and choices, but it
does seek to be of help by indicating ethical and moral criteria which
are relevant to the process—criteria which are to be found in both
human and Christian values.

B. Solidarity and Integral Development

13. As matters stand, mass media at times exacerbate individual and
social problems which stand in the way of human solidarity and the
integral development of the human person. These obstacles include
secularism, consumerism, materialism, dehumanization and lack of concern
for the plight of the poor and neglected.27

It is against this background that the Church, recognizing the media
of social communications as "the privileged way" today for the
creation and transmission of culture,28 acknowledges its own
duty to offer formation to communications professionals and to the
public so that they will approach media with "a critical sense
which is animated by a passion for the truth"; it likewise
acknowledges its duty to engage in "a work of defense of liberty,
respect for the dignity of individuals and the elevation of the
authentic culture of peoples which occurs through a firm and courageous
rejection of every form of monopoly and manipulation."29

C. Policies and Structures

14. Certain problems in this regard arise specifically from media
policies and structures: for example, the unjust exclusion of some
groups and classes from access to the means of communications, the
systematic abridgment of the fundamental right to information, which is
practiced in some places, the widespread domination of media by
economic, social and political elites. These things are contrary to the
principal purposes and indeed to the very nature of the media, whose
proper and essential social role consists in contributing to the
realization of the human right to information, promoting justice in the
pursuit of the common good and assisting individuals, groups and peoples
in their search for truth. The media carry out these crucial tasks when
they foster the exchange of ideas and information among all classes and
sectors of society and offer to all responsible voices opportunities to
be heard.

D. Defense of the Right to Information and Communications

15. It is not acceptable that the exercise of the freedom of
communication should depend upon wealth, education or political power.
The right to communicate is the right of all.

This calls for special national and international efforts, not only
to give those who are poor and less powerful access to the information
which they need for their individual and social development, but to
ensure that they are able to play an effective responsible role in
deciding media content and determining the structures and policies of
their national institutions of social communications. Where legal and
political structures foster the domination of the media by elites, the
Church for its part must urge respect for the right to communicate,
including its own right of access to media, while at the same time
seeking alternative models of communications for its own members and for
people at large. The right to communicate is part also of the right to
religious freedom, which should not be confined to freedom of worship.

IV. Pastoral priorities and responses

A. Defense of Human Cultures

16. Considering the situation in many places, sensitivity to the
rights and interests of individuals may often call for the Church to
promote alternative community media. Often, too, for the sake of
evangelization and catechesis the Church must take steps to preserve and
promote folk media and other traditional forms of expression,
recognizing that in particular societies these can be more effective
than newer media in spreading the Gospel because they make possible
greater personal participation and reach deeper levels of human feeling
and motivation.

The overwhelming presence of mass media in the contemporary world by
no means detracts from the importance of alternative media which are
open to people's involvement and allow them to be active in production
and even in designing the process of communications itself. Then, too,
grassroots and traditional media not only provide an important forum for
local cultural expression but develop competence for active
participation in shaping and using mass media.

Similarly, we view with sympathy the desire of many peoples and
groups for more just, equitable systems of communications and
information which safeguard them against domination and manipulation,
whether from abroad or at the hands of their fellow countrymen. This is
a concern of developing nations in relation to developed ones, and
often, too, it is a concern of minorities within particular nations,
both developed and developing. In all cases people ought to be able to
participate actively, autonomously and responsibly in the process of
communications which in so many ways helps to shape the conditions of
their lives.

B. Development and Promotion of the Church's Own Media of Social Communications

17. Along with its other commitments in the area of communications
and media, the Church must continue, in spite of the many difficulties
involved, to develop, maintain and foster its own specifically Catholic
instruments and programs for social communications. These include the
Catholic press and Catholic publishing houses, Catholic radio and
television, offices for public information and media relations,
institutes and programs for training in and about media, media research
and Church-related organizations of communications professionals—including
especially the international Catholic communications organizations—whose
members are knowledgeable and competent collaborators with the episcopal
conferences as well as with the bishops individually.

Catholic media work is not simply one more program alongside all the
rest of the Church's activities: Social communications have a role to
play in every aspect of the Church's mission. Thus, not only should
there be a pastoral plan for communications, but communications should
be an integral part of every pastoral plan, for it has something to
contribute to virtually every other apostolate, ministry and program.

C. Formation of Christian Communicators

18. Education and training in communications should be an integral
part of the formation of pastoral workers and priests.30
There are several distinct elements and aspects to the education and
training which are required. For example, in today's world, so strongly
influenced by media, Church personnel require at least a working grasp
of the impact which new information technologies and mass media are
having upon individuals and society. They must likewise be prepared to
minister both to the "information-rich" and to the
"information-poor." They need to know how to invite others
into dialogue, avoiding a style of communicating which suggests
domination, manipulation or personal gain. As for those who will be
actively engaged in media work for the Church, they need to acquire
professional skills in media along with doctrinal and spiritual
formation.

D. Pastoral Care of Communications Personnel

19. Media work involves special psychological pressures and ethical
dilemmas. Considering how important a role the media play in forming
contemporary culture and shaping the lives of countless individuals and
whole societies, it is essential that those professionally involved in
secular media and the communications industries approach their
responsibilities imbued with high ideals and a commitment to the service
of humanity.

The Church has a corresponding responsibility to develop and offer
programs of pastoral care which are specifically responsive to the
peculiar working conditions and moral challenges facing communications
professionals. Typically, pastoral programs of this sort should include
ongoing formation which will help these men and women—many of whom
sincerely wish to know and do what is ethically and morally right—to
integrate moral norms ever more fully into their professional work as
well as their private lives.

V. The need for pastoral planning

A. Responsibilities of Bishops

20. Recognizing the validity, and indeed the urgency, of the claims
advanced by communications work, bishops and others responsible for
decisions about allocating the Church's limited human and material
resources should assign it an appropriate high priority, taking into
account the circumstances of their particular nations, regions and
dioceses.

This need may be even greater now than previously, precisely because,
to some degree at least, the great contemporary "Areopagus" of
mass media has more or less been neglected by the Church up to this
time.31 As the Holy Father remarks: "Generally,
preference has been given to other means of preaching the Gospel and of
Christian education, while the mass media are left to the initiative of
individuals or small groups and enter into pastoral planning only in a
secondary way."32 This situation needs correcting.

B. Urgency of a Pastoral Plan for Social Communications

21. We therefore strongly recommend that dioceses and episcopal
conferences or assemblies include a communications component in every
pastoral plan. We further recommend that they develop specific pastoral
plans for social communications itself, or else review and bring up to
date those plans which already exist, in this way fostering the
desirable process of periodic re-examination and adaptation. In doing
so, bishops should seek the collaboration of professionals in secular
media and of the Church's own media-related organizations, including
especially the international and national organizations for film,
radio-television and the press.

Episcopal conferences in some regions already have been well served
by pastoral plans which concretely identify needs and goals and
encourage the coordination of efforts. The results of the study,
assessment and consultation involved in preparing these documents can
and should be shared at all levels in the Church, as useful data for
pastoral workers. Practical, realistic plans of this sort also can be
adapted to the needs of local churches. They should of course be
constantly open to revision and adaptation in light of changing needs.

This document itself concludes with elements of a pastoral plan,
which also indicate issues for possible treatment in pastoral letters
and episcopal statements at the national and local levels. These
elements reflect suggestions received from episcopal conferences and
media professionals.

Conclusion

22. We affirm once again that the Church "sees these media as
`gifts of God,' which in accordance with his providential design unite
men in brotherhood and so help them to cooperate with his plan for their
salvation."33 As the Spirit helped the prophets of old
to see the divine plan in the signs of their times, so today the Spirit
helps the Church interpret the signs of our times and carry out its
prophetic tasks, among which the study, evaluation and right use of
communications technology and the media of social communications are now
fundamental.

Appendix

Elements of a pastoral plan for social communications

23. Media conditions and the opportunities presented to the Church in
the field of social communications differ from nation to nation and even
from diocese to diocese within the same country. It naturally follows
that the Church's approach to media and the cultural environment they
help to form will differ from place to place, and that its plans and
participation will be tailored to local situations.

Every episcopal conference and diocese should therefore develop an
integrated pastoral plan for communications, preferably in consultation
with representatives of international and national Catholic
communications organizations and with local media professionals.
Furthermore, communications ought to be taken into account in
formulating and carrying out all other pastoral plans, including those
concerning social service, education and evangelization. A number of
episcopal conferences and dioceses already have developed such plans in
which communications needs are identified, goals are articulated,
realistic provision is made for financing, and a variety of
communications efforts is coordinated.

The following guidelines are offered as assistance to those
formulating such pastoral plans or engaged in reassessing plans which
exist.

Guidelines for Designing Pastoral Plans for Social Communications in
a Diocese, Episcopal Conference or Patriarchal Assembly

24. A pastoral plan for social communications should include the
following elements:

a) The statement of a vision, based on extensive consultation,
which identifies communications strategies for all Church ministries and
responds to contemporary issues and conditions.

b) An inventory or assessment which describes the media
environment in the territory under consideration, including audiences,
public and commercial media producers and directors, financial and
technical resources, delivery systems, ecumenical and educational
resources, and Catholic media organizations and communications
personnel, including those of religious communities.

c) A proposed structure for Church-related social communications
in support of evangelization, catechesis and education, social service
and ecumenical cooperation, and including, as far as possible, public
relations, press, radio, television, cinema, cassettes, computer
networks, facsimile services and related forms of telecommunications.

d) Media education, with special emphasis on the relationship of
media and values.

e) Pastoral outreach to, and dialogue with, media professionals,
with particular attention to their faith development and spiritual
growth.

f) Means of obtaining and maintaining financial support adequate
to the carrying out of the pastoral plan.

Process for Designing a Pastoral Plan for Social Communications

25. The plan should offer guidelines and suggestions helpful to
Church communicators in establishing realistic goals and priorities for
their work. It is recommended that a planning team including Church
personnel and media professionals be involved in this process, whose two
phases are: 1. research, and 2. design.

Research Phase

26. The elements of the research phase are needs assessment,
information gathering, and an exploration of alternative models of a
pastoral plan. It includes an analysis of the internal communications
environment, including the strengths and weaknesses of the Church's
current structures and programs for communications as well as the
opportunities and challenges these face.

Three types of research will assist in gathering the required
information: a needs assessment, a communications audit, and a resource
inventory. The first identifies areas of ministry requiring particular
attention on the part of the episcopal conference or diocese. The second
considers what is now being done—including its effectiveness—so as
to identify strengths and weaknesses of existing communications
structures and procedures. The third identifies communications
resources, technology and personnel available to the Church—including
not only the Church's "own" resources but those to which it
may have access in the business community, the media industries, and
ecumenical settings.

Design Phase

27. After gathering and studying these data, the planning team should
identify conference or diocesan communications goals and priorities.
This is the beginning of the design phase. The planning team should then
proceed to address each of the following issues as it relates to local
circumstances.

28. Education. Communications issues and mass communications
are relevant to every level of pastoral ministry, including education. A
pastoral social communications plan should attempt:

a) To offer educational opportunities in communications as
essential components of the formation of all persons who are engaged in
the work of the Church: seminarians, priests, religious brothers and
sisters, and lay leaders.

b) To encourage Catholic schools and universities to offer
programs and courses related to the communications needs of the Church
and society.

c) To offer courses, workshops and seminars in technology,
management and communication ethics and policy issues for Church
communicators, seminarians, religious and clergy.

d) To plan and carry out programs in media education and media
literacy for teachers, parents and students.

e) To encourage creative artists and writers accurately to
reflect Gospel values as they share their gifts through the written
word, legitimate theater, radio, television and film for entertainment
and education.

f) To identify new strategies for evangelization and catechesis
through the application of communications technology and mass
communications.

29. Spiritual formation and pastoral care. Lay Catholic
professionals and others working in either the Church apostolate of
social communications or the secular media often look to the Church for
spiritual guidance and pastoral care. A pastoral plan for social
communications therefore should seek:

a) To offer opportunities for professional enrichment to lay
Catholic and other professional communicators through days of
recollection, retreats, seminars and professional support groups.

b) To offer pastoral care which will provide the necessary
support, nourish the communicators' faith, and keep alive their sense of
dedication in the difficult task of communicating Gospel values and
authentic human values to the world.

30. Cooperation. Cooperation involves sharing resources among
conferences and/or dioceses and between dioceses and other institutions,
such as religious communities, universities and health-care facilities.
A pastoral plan for social communications should be designed:

a) To enhance relations and encourage mutual consultation between
Church representatives and media professionals, who have much to teach
the Church about the use of media.

b) To explore cooperative productions through regional and
national centers and to encourage the development of joint promotion,
marketing and distribution networks.

c) To promote cooperation with religious congregations working in
social communications.

d) To collaborate with ecumenical organizations and with other
churches and religious groups regarding ways of securing and
guaranteeing access to the media by religion, and to collaborate in
"the more recently developed media: especially in regard to the
common use of satellites, data banks and cable networks, and in
informatics generally, beginning with system compatibility "34

e) To cooperate with secular media, especially in regard to
common concerns on religious, moral, ethical, cultural, educational and
social issues.

31. Public relations. Public relations by the Church means
active communication with the community through both secular and
religious media. Involving readiness to communicate Gospel values and to
publicize the ministries and programs of the Church, it requires that
the Church do all in its power to ensure that its own true image
reflects Christ. A pastoral plan for social communications should seek:

a) To maintain public relations offices with adequate human and
material resources to make possible effective communication between the
Church and the community as a whole.

b) To produce publications and radio, television and video
programs of excellent quality which give high visibility to the message
of the Gospel and the mission of the Church.

c) To promote media awards and other means of recognition in
order to encourage and support media professionals.

d) To celebrate World Communications Day as a means of fostering
awareness of the importance of social communications and supporting the
communications initiatives of the Church.

32. Research. The Church's strategies in the field of social
communications must be based on the results of sound media research
which have been subjected to informed analysis and evaluation. It is
important that communications research include topics and issues of
particular relevance to the mission of the Church in the particular
nation and region involved. A pastoral plan for social communications
should be designed:

a) To encourage institutes of higher studies, research centers,
and universities to engage in both applied and fundamental research
related to communications needs and concerns of the Church and society.

b) To identify practical ways of interpreting current
communication research and applying it to the mission of the Church.

c) To support ongoing theological reflection upon the processes
and instruments of social communication and their role in the Church and
society.

33. Communications and development of peoples. Accessible
point-to-point communication and mass media offer many people a more
adequate opportunity to participate in the modern world economy, to
experience freedom of expression, and to contribute to the emergence of
peace and justice in the world. A pastoral plan for social
communications should be designed:

a) To bring Gospel values to bear upon the broad range of
contemporary media activities—from book publishing to satellite
communications—so as to contribute to the growth of international
solidarity.

b) To defend the public interest and to safeguard religious
access to the media by taking informed, responsible positions on matters
of communications law and policy, and on the development of
communications systems.

c) To analyze the social impact of advanced communications
technology and to help prevent undue social disruption and cultural
destabilization.

d) To assist professional communicators in articulating and
observing ethical standards, especially in regard to the issues of
fairness, accuracy, justice, decency and respect for life.

e) To develop strategies for encouraging more widespread,
representative, responsible access to the media.

f) To exercise a prophetic role by speaking out in timely fashion
from a Gospel perspective concerning the moral dimensions of significant
public issues.

Vatican City, February 22, 1992, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the
Apostle.